Fairfield, Conn. -After months of hard work, creative thinking and intense effort to raise awareness of extreme poverty and preventable disease, ten universities have earned a spot in the ONE Campus Challenge Final Round.  The ONE Campus Challenge is a competition run by the organization ONE that motivates students to hold events, talk to elected officials, and educate others about those living in extreme poverty and suffering from preventable disease around the world.

ONE members on campuses across the country formed ONE Chapters.  These chapters have rallied the student body around these issues and competed against hundreds of other schools for a top spot in the ONE Campus Challenge.  In the process, these students have cultivated a culture of activism, transformed their campus and proven their ability to take their concerns directly to our nation’s leaders.

Schools winning top honors are: Brandeis University; Campbellsville University; George Washington University; Hofstra University; Kansas State University; Princeton University; Sacred Heart University; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Western Kentucky University; and Wilmington College, Wilmington, Ohio.

ONE recognizes the enthusiasm and hard work of each school with a grant award of $1,000.  These funds will be used to create a program on campus that draw attention to these issues and build the political will to ask our nation’s leaders to find solutions for these problems on campus and in their communities.

“Every day, I marvel at the dedication, creativity and intelligence of ONE’s student activists.  This is the generation that has the opportunity to create a world where children are not dying because they lack access to simple medicines, a world where malaria no longer exists, and where every boy and girl has access to primary education,” said David Lane, ONE President and CEO.

In March, all OCC participants will vote on the program which they consider to be the strongest and most effective.  The school with the most votes, honored as the university among hundreds that has done the most to advance the fight against poverty, will be rewarded with a special on-campus performance.

“Over the past few months, I’ve gotten to know these students, and their potential to create real change is thrilling.  These students have shown, week after week, their determination to make the idea that we can beat extreme poverty a reality.  What each of these top ten schools have accomplished in such a short time is overwhelming and I cannot wait to see what programs each will implement on their own campus,” said Erin Eagan, Student Outreach Coordinator.

Launched in September for the first time ever, the ONE Campus Challenge (OCC motivates students to organize, hold events, talk to elected officials, educate others about those living in extreme poverty and suffering from preventable disease around the world. Along the way, ONE has rewarded students for reaching milestones as the OCC progresses, stoking the competition and encouraging participation.  ONE’s use of cutting-edge Internet-based technologies gives students an unprecedented level of organization and involvement.

“These next few weeks, we are going to see student activism unleashed.  These students have the knowledge and the will to change the world.  They have been a relentless presence on the campaign trail, on their campus, and in their communities,” said Weldon Kennedy, Online Coordinator for the OCC.  “They are turning up the volume and increasing visibility on the issues that that care about the most.  They are asking our nation’s elected officials to lead the world and find solutions to extreme poverty, and they won’t stop until the answer is ‘Yes.'”

In January, the student leaders from the top 100 schools arrived in Washington D.C. for an elite student summit.  At the Power 100 stoked the competition as students learned from each other what was working on campus, and sized up the competition to make it to the finals.  They not only learned from each other, but also from the best of what Washington D.C. could offer, as well well-known speakers, activists and political leaders spoke on the power of student activism.  Some of these speakers include former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Gene Sperling, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Paul Begala, political contributor and Democratic strategist on CNN’s The Situa.tion Room.

More than 20,000 students on 1400 campuses nationwide are participating in the ONE Campus Challenge.  In its first 12 hours, the OCC signed up new members of the ONE Campaign on more than 1,000 college campuses across the United States.